Vader - The Dark Side
by gregglevine
Summary: This is the untold origin of the galaxy's most infamous and most misunderstood villain...Darth Vader.
1. A Boy And His Mother

**1 - A Boy And His Mother**

The woman took the smack in the face without a sound. She needed to be strong for her son, who unfortunately was witnessing another beating. She tried not to catch the boy's eye during it. She didn't want him to see the fear or pain in her eyes, which she could not hide easily. It didn't matter what she tried to hide though. He didn't know how, but the boy felt it all. He felt it every single time their owner beat her and he beat her often, it was the life of a slave. The boy wouldn't tell her that he felt it though. This boy was smart, even at such a young age, he knew it would devastate her. Plus, the boy also knew that she was being strong for him, he decided he would do the same for her. Quietly, the boy would feel each hit, every painful blow, but that didn't hurt the most. What hurt the most was that he also felt his mother's inner pain knowing what she was putting her son through and the awful life he would have ahead. For years, quietly within him, along with the pain, anger built, deep and terrible anger.

This particular night, their owner was drunk on Common Cantina Ale, that stuff is like drinking hyper speed fuel. To make matter's worse, earlier that day, the boy ruined a power converter, he was trying to make it more efficient and he would have if he had a little more time. When their owner confronted them, before the boy could speak, his mother took the blame and a punch to the gut and that was just for starters.

Their owner was so incensed and terrifying that night, that at first the boy was in shock and just stood there watching. But this night was different for the boy too, because years of the anger bubbling up, it finally boiled over. As the slave owner slapped the boy's mother with one hand and choked her with the other, the boy screamed and instantly the man let go of the woman and by some invisible force was thrown against the wall. The man couldn't breathe, it was as if someone had their hands around his own throat. Then the man could see the boy; his eyes were glowing red and the boy was levitating in the air while a wind from no where seemed like a sudden sand storm in the room. Floating like a specter, the boy came between the man and his mother. With a voice that didn't sound childlike in any way whatsoever, it was deep and almost mechanical sounding, the boy spoke slowly so his owner would clearly hear him, "I hate you! I wish you would die!" In that instant, the boy made a fist and the slave owner's body twisted like a few little twigs in the boy's grip. The man was dead. However he was still practically welded to the wall just as the boy was still floating in the air, eyes glowing red.

The boy's mother couldn't believe what she was seeing. Slowly she stood and approached her son as tears filled her eyes. Very gently she touched the boy, who seemed to almost be in a trance. The boy didn't respond. Very easily, she rubbed his face and whispered, "Anakin." Instantly the boy's eyes turned back to normal. The broken slave owner fell to the floor as the boy fell into his mother's arms.


	2. A Boy To Save A Boy

**2 - A Boy To Save A Boy**

"A great disturbance in the Force there was. Feel it, you did?"

"Yes, Master Yoda, I felt it."

"Murder, but not just murder of a man." Yoda's eyes winced while he felt something deeper. Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was still an apprentice, tried to sense what his Master was feeling. "Murder of innocence." As if Yoda was a transmitter, the young Obi-Wan finally tuned in and felt what Yoda felt. "You must go, my young apprentice. This, your final task is."

"You mean before I am a Jedi?" Yoda sometimes worried about Obi-Wan's excitement. Obi-Wan himself was practically still a boy. Immediately Obi-Wan felt Yoda's concern and straightened himself up, standing as if he was worthy of the Jedi Order, while honestly keeping modest. Yoda knew Obi-Wan's heart was true. Yoda also knew it was an exciting time to become a Jedi, even for himself when he was just a young Padawan. That seemed like lifetimes ago, for some lifeforms it was. The old ways were fading and Yoda could sense great change was about to come to the galaxy. "What do you ask of me, my master? I am at your humble service."

Yoda waited a moment before he answered. This was a serious task, but Yoda knew that Obi-Wan was somehow connected to the boy. The boy would listen to Obi-Wan. He would trust him. Obi-Wan may not have been ready, but he had to be the one to go, he was their best chance. "To Tatooine you will go. A boy you will find. A Jedi he will become." Something felt wrong as those last words came out of Yoda's mouth.

Instantly, again as if Obi-Wan was picking up Yoda's signals, his mission started to get clearer. "You think this boy has something to do with the disturbance in the Force, Master?"

For such a little body, Yoda took a massive breath and as he let it out, he slowly said, "The disturbance in the Force, the boy is."


	3. Cloaked

Anakin and his mother, Shmi, ran as fast as they could. A slave killing their owner was serious business. It didn't matter if no one could prove Anakin did it, someone would have to pay. They would probably execute her and if Ani was lucky he'd been sent to the crystal mines ran by the Hutt's for the rest of his life, which wouldn't be very long there. The price on their heads wasn't enough to brag about, but it would be enough for a few nights at the local cantina, it may even be enough for more than just drinks.

They managed to stay hidden for a few days, living off garbage, eating it. They slept in it too. They found a trash compactor that looked like no one in this sector would ever even bother to use. Anakin disabled it so it wouldn't crush them while they hid.

It was night and there weren't too many people out in the streets, just enough for them not to be noticed. They left the trash compactor to try and get out of town, maybe she could get work at a moisture farm, she thought. It would a rough road ahead, but it was better than the alternative.

"What's wrong, Ani?" Shmi asked her son. He looked worried. She had been watching him carefully since he, well, did what he did to the their owner. She always knew the boy was special, but she had no idea to what extent. She never expected anything like that.

"We are being followed," Anikan said.

Shmi's heart sunk, "Are you sure, Ani?"

"There's a man in a black cloak behind us. He's been following us for a while now. Meet me up ahead."

"No, Anakin, wait."

"I have an idea." Suddenly Anakin was gone from his mother's sight and the person following them as well. Shmi's instinct was to stop, but something came over her, it was almost as if Anakin was there pulling her forward, helping her be brave and she followed it.

The man in the black cloak however, stopped. He was looking for the boy. "Hey!" It was Anakin and somehow he was way down the street in the opposite direction of his mother. "Hey, you in the black cloak! I'm over here." Anakin yelled loudly, but oddly enough, no one turned but the man in the black cloak who jumped towards Anakin. Not only did he jump, he jumped three whole blocks. Anakin couldn't believe what he was seeing and almost froze, but he slipped into an alley and by the time the man in the black cloak caught up, Anakin was gone.

"Where did you go?" As fast as he disappeared, Anakin returned to his mother. "Don't you do that to me, I thought I lost you." It just took a minor distraction and before they knew it another cloaked man was in front of them, but it wasn't the same man and this cloak was brown. Startled, but brave, little Anakin hit the man in the legs.

The man in the cloak took hold of Anakin, but not in a violent way. "Wait, Anakin. I am here to help you. My name is Ben."

"You're lying," Anakin snapped, "that's not your name."

"No, youngling," Obi-Wan was surprised how easily the boy could sense even the slightest fabrication, he spoke gently, "you're right, it's not. My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. My master asked me to travel in secret. That is why I used a false identity, but I am here to help you Anakin and your mother. I am here to take both of you away from this place. My friends will help you build a new life, a better life, a free life." Obi-Wan put out his hand to Shmi. "Come with me, we don't have much time, I will save you and your son." Anakin stared at Obi-Wan as if he was looking through his very soul. There was something about Obi-Wan that instantly came over Anakin, even with the lie about his name. It was like he knew this man, like he was a long lost brother. Shmi and Anakin looked at each other and even to Shmi, who had a midi-chlorian count of zero could sense that Obi-Wan was being truthful. Anyone who ever met Obi-Wan Kenobi knew instantly the truly gentle man he was. Shmi was sure he would never harm Anakin. Anakin picked up on that thought and it felt right, yet wrong in some small way he could not explain and he ignored it.

"We need to leave, now." Obi-Wan insisted upon sensing their approval of him. "It won't be long before…."

From nowhere, a laser blast hit Shmi and knocked her half way down the alley. "Mom!" Anakin screamed and started running after her, as more laser blasts flooded the air. Then something happened that stopped Anakin dead in his tracks. Even with his heightened senses, Anakin wasn't sure what he noticed first, the noise or the light that it made. Whichever it was, the sound was like nothing Anakin ever heard before, and something deep within him knew that it was the sound of his future. It sounded like massive amounts of electricity coming to life, crackling and pulsating in the air. Anakin watched in awe as Obi-Wan swung around a sword made of blue light which brought down every single other laser blast after the one that hit his mother. "Mom!" Anakin turned and ran towards the spot he saw his mother fly from getting shot.

"Anakin, wait!" Obi-Wan yelled, but Anakin's priority was his mother. Obi-Wan used the Force to push back the onslaught in front of them, the laser fire stopped long enough for him to chase Anakin, who he found on the verge of tears. Shmi was no where to be found.

"Where is she Obi-Wan? I can't hear her anymore." Obi-Wan instantly understood that through the Force, Anakin could hear and feel his mother, with the way Master Yoda felt about him, the boy could probably sense anyone. "I can't hear her, Obi-Wan! Where is she? Where is she, Obi-Wan? Help me, Obi-Wan! You're my only hope!" Panic filled the young, now motherless, child.


	4. Tricked

Hidden in a black cloak, Darth Maul spoke to a hologram, "Forgive me, my master, the Jedi reached the boy first." Even light years away, Darth Maul could sense his master's udder disappointment in his miserable failure.

"Don't lie to me, you were fooled by a child."

"I have the next best thing, Master Sidious. I have the boy's mother. She's hurt, but alive. I am using the Force to block the child from sensing her. I didn't want to alert the Jedi." Darth Maul could sense his master thinking him a coward, "Through her we can find him, but I thought we..."

"We?" Darth Sidious, the voice behind the hologram questioned.

"Excuse me, Master, I thought I should be better prepared when I use her as bait."

Darth Maul sensed his Master calm down somewhat. "It was wise of you not to make the Jedi aware of us yet. They have him now. I will have to handle this another way. We will hold on to the boy's mother until she can serve us better than mere bait." Darth Maul's master would use the mystery of her missing against the Jedi and to help turn the boy to his side. Every once in a while Darth Sidious would lift the Force and let the boy sense that at least she was alive, it would slowly torment the boy for years. The boy would search the galaxy high and low for her and when the time was right, the boy's new master would reveal her to him.

"What is your bidding, my master? What shall you have me do with her?"

"There is a pirate and slave trader on Tatooine. He travels the galaxy. Bring her to him. Tell him not to sell her and to keep her alive until I am ready for her. How he keeps her alive, I don't really care."

"Yes, master." Unsure of himself, but most curious, Darth Maul asked, "Who is this child, Master?"

With fury and disgust in his voice that almost choked Darth Maul, Darth Sidious said, "That child is my next apprentice and your future master. Don't fail me again!"

**To be continued... If you like this story, please follow, favorite, share it, and/or leave a comment. Your support is greatly appreciated! Thanks! And of course, May The Force Be With You! :)**


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